Each player starts facing each other with a basketball & a tennis ball.

The players shuffle sideways while dribbling down the court and passing the tennis ball back and forth to each other.

To Add Difficulty

Vary the height of the tennis ball tosses.

Cross the ball over to the other hand after each tennis ball toss. (Crossover, Behind-the-Back, Between-the-Legs)

Rather than shuffling, run up and down the court. To make it easier at first, player on the right side would have to dribble with their right hand and the player on the left side would have to dribble with their left hand.

How can this drill translate into a game type situation. Drills are great,but lets keep in mind that every drill is to improve various aspects of a players performance in a game. I am not saying this drill isn''t a good one, but how many times in the game will a player " crab dribble", unless they are in the post. And even then, they will only dribble several times in that fashion......

Byron, I agree that you definitely want to have drills that apply to game situations. If you were looking for a drill specifically for game situations, then this isn't a good idea.

However, if you look at the drill purpose, it's meant to improve hand-eye coordination and catching, while focusing on keeping your hands up. It is also an overload drill. It overloads you mentally, so when you go back a drill with one ball in a normal game situation, the kid will feel like handling the ball is easy.

I agree that doing a drill just to do a drill or because somebody else is doing it is usually not a good idea. And always ask why.

Good point. I probably wouldn't use this drill with my high school team. BUT with youth players it is GREAT!!

Studies have been done that coordination is best developed BEFORE the age of 12. If you truly care about your young players, then do drills like this and many others that develop hand eye coordination, balance, athleticism, and so on. They will thank you for it when they get older. In addition to improving coordination, this drill also teaches players to keep their head up while dribbling.

If you are ONLY worried about drills translating to games at the youth level, then you are in the wrong profession. That is important but a lower priority. You should primarily be concerned with developing these players to reach their maximum potential. And also make a positive impact by teaching character, integrity, confidence, positive thinking, teamwork, and helping them learn to love sports and basketball.

While in a perfect world that might work better... but you wont always be able to do that.Just do the best that you can when setting this up with your players. There might be some that want to work with another player that is better than he/she is.... that will only make them better.

Jeff & Joe make some great points about this drill and what it does for young players.